This invention relates to an improved waste drainage and stowing system for recreational vehicles and the like.
Recreational vehicles having self-contained bathrooms and sewer systems must employ a suitable means for conducting the waste from the storage tanks to a suitable disposal receptacle. In the past many of these vehicles have employed an externally accessible housing for containing a length of hose which may be manually connected to a hose fitting on an outlet stub pipe of the vehicle waste storage tank. The other end of the hose, in use, was extended to the inlet of the disposal receptacle. This has proven to be a clumsy and a somewhat messy operation and it is necessary to handle the hose and flush out the waste after use to avoid excessive build-up of odours.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,347 issued Jan. 9, 1979 to Albert Mercer, there is described a simple add-on unit which connects directly to the outlet stub pipe of the waste storage tank of the recreational vehicle. The unit includes a rigid outer cylindrical housing having one end which is arranged to connect to the existing outlet stub pipe of the waste tank. This cylindrical housing contains an axially compressible and expandable hose of the accordion type, which hose is connected at one end to that end of the housing which is connected to the stub pipe. The other end of the hose is extendible outside the housing to a disposal receptacle, such other end having an end sleeve connected to it with the end sleeve having a removable cap. This end sleeve is provided with connections so as to mount same within the end of the rigid cylindrical housing.
Reference may also be had to my related Canadian Patent No. 1,269,802 issued Jun. 5, 1990 which is closely related to the structure disclosed in the Mercer patent. A rigid cylindrical end piece is provided on the distal end of the hose, which end piece is adapted to be fitted to the end of the housing when the hose in the axially compressed stored position. The above-noted patent particularly provides a novel securement for releasably attaching this end piece to the aforementioned end of the housing.
The types of recreational vehicles with which this invention is particularly concerned are known in the industry as "Class B" recreational vehicles. In more recent years there has been a tendency to make these vehicles with downwardly extended lower side wall portions providing a type of "ground effect" skirt thereby to enhance the appearance of the vehicle and to hide from view a number of components which are secured beneath the floor of the vehicle. Insofar as the waste drainage attachments are concerned, there are a number of pivoting, rigid and telescoping waste drainage systems which have been used over a number of years up to the present. These existing systems however have a number of problems. The rigid systems must be connected to the storage tank at a point low enough to allow the drainage pipe to clear the lowermost edges of the sidewall of the vehicle when the drain pipe is extended outwardly. This is not feasible when utilizing vehicles with relatively low "ground effect" side walls as noted above. If the sidewalls are made to be high enough for a drainage pipe to clear its bottom when extended, the pipe can then be seen when stowed away, this obviously being undesirable from at least the appearance point of view. It is therefore desirable to have a waste drainage attachment coupled with a suitable stowing or storage system in order that the drainage system will be out of view when stored away, which may be handled very simply by the user and which is very economical to manufacture. At the same time the system should be arranged so that it can be utilized on recreational vehicles with low "ground effect" side wall portions or skirts as noted above.